Go South, Young Man: An Interview with J. E. McCaffrey

Abstract

Since leaving the New York State Ranger School in 1916, Joseph E. McCaffrey has seen duty as a logging engineer, sawmill manager, forest land manager and consultant in the United States and abroad. Most of his career, however, has been spent in the South. He went there to run a steam logging show and stayed on to pioneer in forest management practices with International Paper Company.Mr. McCaffrey joined International Paper in 1928; ten years later he became General Superintendent of Wood Procurement for the Company's southern operations. After a tour of duty with the Army Engineers (1942–1946) supplying timber for units in the Pacific, he came back to International Paper as Southern Kraft Division Superintendent at Georgetown, South Carolina. In 1954 he became Assistant General Manager in charge of Woodlands for the Division and Company Vice President, a position he held until his retirement August 15, 1963. As woods boss for the Southern Kraft Division, he was responsible for the management of 4,300,000 acres of Company timberlands and for the annual procurement of more than 5,500,000 cords of pulpwood.Mr. McCaffrey has participated in almost every industry and professional association. He was an organizer of the Fifth World Forestry Congress and a member of the Advisory Committee to the President's Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission. In 1963 he received the distinguished conservation service award of the Wildlife Society.The following interview, made by the Forest History Society's executive director in February 1964, tells part of the story behind these accomplishments. It brings alive the transition from steam logging to intensive forest land management: the most recent and least documented phase of southern forest history.